Direct Drive turntables

Raul,

Lp performance has many interconnected variables, we all agree on that. how an Lp is rotated on a platter is just one of those varibles. am i hung up a bit on this issue exclusively? yes and no.

notice i use the term 'preferrer' when descibing my perspective. i am trying not to make statements, only preferences. where i stray from that intention, forgive me.

Jfrech's post also describes my basic feelings quite well. over 15+ years of listening to lots of different tt's and related gear, there is a common attribute with dd and related methods of drive where a belt is not used. and i have found that pretty much without exception i would choose the attributes of a dd/idler over a belt driven tt of a few levels higher overall performance.

there is a point where the best designed belt driven tt's do surpass less refined dd and idlers in overall musical satisfaction. the best belt driven designs don't leave me 'wanting' for dd. OTOH when i hear a dd or idler with similar refinement i enjoy the dd more. no matter how you slice it; music is better (i prefer it more) when the speed is better.....every time.

--my digital player eliminates jitter (timing errors) from any digital input.
--my tt's....
--my Ampex and Studer RTR decks are considered the best transports.

am i hung up on timing? it appears so.

the best sounding musical reproduction gear always goes to elaborate lengths to get the speed right. it's always the 'hard part'. one can have an opinion on different electronic circuits that sound the best. but timing of music is not debatable as most critical. even tonality gets screwed up when the timing is off. and when the timing is approaching perfection then the musical magic really happens.

Dear Mike: As you agree too the LP performance is surrounded by many factros that have an intimate relationship and that makes almost impossible to aisle one of that factors/variables to have some kind of measure/opinion nof its relative " weight " in the full LP quality performance equation.

Yes, timing/ryhtmun is essencial and makes a difference in quality performance.

+++++ " when the speed is better.....every time. " +++++

but the timing has influence on the other factors/variables, the TT speed ( accuracy ) is one of the factors in the timing it self and if the speed accuracy ( better speed?? ) could define that timing then why three different TT: SP-10, Monaco and Walker ( I can't find the spec on the Rockport. ) with the same spec on speed: 0.001%, sounds so different?

What I'm trying to say is that that timing ( critical ) in what we hear is not only speed accuracy/stability. Of course that we prefer 0.001% on speed accuracy than 0.003% or at least our mind will be " calm " with the better spec, could we hear differences with these two speed specs everything the same?, hard to say and interesting to find out.

Anyway, no doubt of the critical importance that the " timing " has in our music perception and that we know when the timing is right on target.
I always support the DD systems and still do it but I'm convinced that we can have or we can achieve stellar/top quality performance with either TT drive system if that TT has the right design and the right execution design.
It is clear that for you the Rockport system has a better design an better execution design that almost any other TT out there and this is a challenge for other TT designers.

I hope that in the future we can have " affordable " TT's ( either drive system. ) that even and surpass the Rockport one: we need grow-up about.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

....could define that timing then why three different TT: SP-10, Monaco and Walker ( I can't find the spec on the Rockport. ) with the same spec on speed: 0.001%, sounds so different?

add two zeros (accurate to within 10 parts per million) next to the decimal point for the Rockport. but more than speed it is truely steady and continuous because of the isolation and inertia combined with the speed and a perfectly flat record. it's the execution of design along with the design approach.

the Rockport technology is now 14-15 years old. it could be bettered and maybe already has been. bring lots of dollars though.

Dear Mike: 0.00001%? WOW!!! this is nearest to " perfection " on speed accuracy and that the design had 14-15 years speaks a lot of Rockport designer.

Congratulations to be a happy owner.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

We have been here before. It is hard to say exactly why the best DD and the best idler-drive turntables seem to have more drive/pace/rhythm, because any differences in "speed accuracy" among all good turntables, including good belt-drive tables, are miniscule at most. One can invoke the factor of "stylus drag" and the ability of DD and idler-drives to maintain absolute stability in the face of this force. Yet one has to be skeptical that stylus drag could be of such magnitude as to play into this equation, especially as regards the massive platters of some BD tables that would seem to be able to overcome stylus drag by virtue of inertia. In any case, the measurements of speed accuracy that we read about are likely to have been derived by averaging the speed over a relatively long-ish time interval (even seconds constitute a long time in terms of musical transients). What I think we are hearing in DD and idler-drive tables that may distinguish them is speed stability over micro- or millisecond time intervals. Yet intuitively one wonders whether the servo mechanisms of dd tables can operate effectively in such a small time window. So, I don't know what's going on, but I like it.